By Ensign Dane Cristiane
80406.14
During and After The Last Dance and Entangled
-=Interrogation Room 2: Central Booking:
NYPD Headquarters, Earth=-
80406.14
During and After The Last Dance and Entangled
-=Interrogation Room 2: Central Booking:
NYPD Headquarters, Earth=-
"State your name."
"I already told you. Several times." Dane glared at the local law enforcement officer, trying to raise cuffed hands to shield his eyes from the bright light that flooded into his face from above.
"My name is Dane Cristiane. I'm a Starfleet officer with the rank of Ensign. I serve aboard the USS Serendipity under command of Captain Zanh Liis."
"Listen, Bajoran," The pudgy, sweaty man leaned over so far that his rotund belly actually rested against the small metal table between them. Dane almost gagged as the man's breath reached his nostrils and he was certain that exposure to the odor could surely be considered a form of criminal torture on many Federation worlds.
"Human!" Dane protested once more. "I told you, scan me! The ridges were added before I left the ship."
"Oh, right." A second, skeletally thin detective who smelled, ironically, of lavender and peppermints but never came near enough to Dane for him to truly enjoy the fact, looked at him from the doorway. "Your disguise as part of your undercover away mission."
"Exactly!"
"Who are you working with on this so-called covert operation, Mister. . .what was it?" He flipped open the billfold that had been in Dane's pocket, carrying his counterfeit identification. "Jardin Ethos."
"I can't tell you that. If you talk to Captain Zanh she will clear all of this up for you." He couldn't believe he was actually asking them to contact her. "Better still, talk to Admiral Vox! He'll vouch for me!"
"Well I have to give you credit, son, this is one of the best fabrications to explain a mugging that I have ever heard. I just say good for her, that your intended victim knew how to knock you flat before you got hold of her purse."
"I didn't WANT her purse! I was trying to apprehend the man that she was with, who is wanted for criminal activity!"
"I guess purse snatching isn't considered criminal activity on Bajor anymore." The round man said to the thin man.
"Must not be. Too bad it's still a felony on Earth." The thin man replied.
"I'm NOT Bajoran! For crying out loud," Dane groaned. He tried to rub his wrists around the cuffs, which were cutting off his circulation. "I don't supposed you can loosen these a little?"
"We'll take them off once you're in the holding cell." Detective Tenk, the larger man replied, shutting off the PADD in his hands. "After we book you."
"You can't be serious."
"Three people in that crowd heard the woman scream that you were trying to steal her bag, and then she ran away. When we got to you, you were out cold and reeking of alcohol."
"That's because some idiot spilled his drink on me when I was searching a wedding reception for the suspect and- oh forget it." Dane realized that his story didn't even sound plausible to him anymore.
"Wedding reception!" Detective Tenk bellowed. "Next you'll be telling me it was at the Russian Tea Room!"
"Tavern on the Green, actually," Dane muttered. "Hey, don't I get to make at least one sub-space call?"
"After your arraignment."
"But that's not the way it's supposed to work!"
"Tell it to the judge, boy." Tenk snarled, grabbing Dane by the scruff of the neck and pulling him up out of his chair.
-=Later=-
"Wake up, lad. Time to go."
Dane opened his eyes and for a moment, thought that he must be experiencing deja vu, all over again. He groaned.
"Come on." The familiar voice entreated. "Don't you want to go home?"
He realized suddenly who it was who was speaking to him, and the offer that was truly being made, and he jumped up off of his bunk. For once in his life, Dane Cristiane didn't have a single sarcastic word to say.
"Yes, Sir."
"Come on with ya, then." Keiran nodded to the very disappointed looking Detective Tenk, who dropped the force field securing the holding cell.
Keiran sealed his thumbprint on Tenk's paperwork to signal that he had in fact authorized release of this prisoner and that all charges were to be dropped per Starfleet Intelligence.
"Hope you enjoyed your stay." Tenk sulked, and Dane opened his mouth, but then thought better of speaking. Maybe he had learned a thing or two from his recent experiences.
"Thank you, Detective." Keiran nodded to the door. "Let's go, boy."
"Wait!" Dane stopped and looked up, turning a shade paler. "My personal effects. Please."
Tenk grumbled, turned towards a locked cabinet, and returned with a small container. Dane didn't care about anything he'd had on him, except. . .
He heaved a huge sigh of relief, seeing that the earring that had belonged to the Captain's grandmother was still in one piece. He clipped it back onto his ear, figuring that was the safest place for it.
O'Sullivan shook his head as they stepped out into the street.
"If I lost that earring," Dane remarked, "I'd wish I were back in the safety of that holding cell."
*****
Keiran and Dane stood on a transporter pad, awaiting transfer to the Sera.
Repairs to the ship had been completed ahead of schedule, she was once again free of space dock and in orbit of Earth, waiting for her last straggling crew members to come home.
As Keiran and Dane stepped down from the transporter in the same room they had disembarked from originally, the younger man turned to the older in dismay.
"I don't get it. What happened to the mission? To Breaux? I swear, the woman who was with him looked just like Lair Kellyn, if she were human."
"It was Lair Kellyn."
Keiran stopped short of giving the full explanation Dane was seeking. "I have to meet with the Captain before we can discuss it. But you'll be debriefed, and you'll understand. Give me two hours and then meet me in Captain Zanh's ready room. In the meantime, go get cleaned up and get a good meal into your stomach."
"Yes, Sir." Dane replied gratefully, thinking the shower sounded even more appealing than the food.
"Dane."
This was the first time he'd ever called Cristiane by his given name directly, and the Ensign took note.
"You did well, lad." Keiran put his hand on Dane's shoulder. "Very well. It'll say so in my report to the Captain, and Admiral Vox."
Keiran disappeared, leaving Dane stunned and unmoving in his tracks.
"Thanks."
Heading out into the corridor, he wandered into the nearest turbolift. He commanded it to take him to junior officers quarters. He didn't realize until he heard the sound of exaggerated throat-clearing behind him that he was not riding the lift alone.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw a sober, if not perky, Fleur Le Marc. She frowned as she stared at his altered appearance, analyzing his nose ridges carefully.
For a moment Dane had forgotten about them entirely, so he was taken aback as she circled around him, grabbed him forcefully by the chin and turned his face from side to side.
"Pfffft." She exclaimed with disgust. "If you are trying to impress me with these superficial changes, it won't work. Those will not get you to, how do you call it, second base."
Dane opened his mouth, but she quickly raised a finger toward him, pressing his lips shut with it.
"We were very drunk, and we will never speak of it again." She announced. The doors to the lift opened and then closed behind her.
Before the bewildered Ensign could fathom what had just happened, he looked up from his daze and found that he was now standing in the lift all by himself.
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Ensign Dane Cristiane
Communications Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Ensign Dane Cristiane
Communications Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012